Robotics and supply chain automation company GreyOrange will launch its new goods-to-person Butler XL at LogiMat 2018.

The Butler XL can handle a payload of 1600 kgs (3500 lbs) including pallets, drums and sacks. Designed to work in tandem with the current Butler system, this makes it easy to add its new capabilities to existing operations.

The new robotics system will support multi-floor operations with the integration of an elevator. This provides greater flexibility to optimize handling of inventory across a facility.

A new study released today by The Economist Intelligence Unit ran three econometric scenarios to 2030 on five countries—the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan—and developing Asia as a whole.

The results showed that, although the fears of those pessimistic about the impact of machine learning, and artificial intelligence in general, may be overblown, the optimists’ claims are not entirely supported, either.

Red Lion Controls, a communication, monitoring and control company for industrial automation and networking, has released firmware 4.28 for its family of RAM industrial routers and cellular RTUs, increasing the number of IIoT platforms available for integration.

The upgrade features connectivity to Ignition by Inductive Automation, an industrial application platform for SCADA and IIoT solutions, via the industry-standard Sparkplug MQTT profile, as well as enhancements to RAMQTT, Red Lion’s MQTT client.

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SoftWear Automation has announced the newest SEWBOT workline is available for global pre-order. The Digital Footwear Upper Workline expands the patented SEWBOT Pick-Place-Sew automation for fully-automated shoe uppers.

In 2017, the SoftWear Automation team went to Waalwijk, Netherlands to speak on the future of footwear. Waalwijk is a small Dutch town with more than 400 related footwear businesses including a tannery.

It used to be the global epicenter for footwear given its proximity to the world’s largest port, dense forests and endless cows. Today, retail is almost all that’s left there. It’s a familiar story in manufacturing where jobs go to the lowest wage providers.

Baumüller will show its handling and automation systems for the entire field of the plastic-processing industry, at Plastindia in Gujarat, India, in February.

Baumüller’s product portfolio ranges from individual components to complete systems as well as the associated service, from motors to converters, control engineering, control systems and software solutions for movement functions.

It manufactures drive systems for plastics machines and also delivers customized drive concepts for extrusions, blow molds or injection molding. Drive solutions in material handling as well as solutions for post-processing and further processing are also part of the product range.

Universal Robots and Apex Motion Control will launch the Zero Footprint Palletizer (ZFP) at the ATX West show in Anaheim, California, USA, this February. Collaborative robots – or cobots – can now automate some of the most common manufacturing tasks in the industry.

The ZFP is for mid-rate production at a maximum load of 18 lbs. The system can be deployed throughout a facility and fits right into existing packaging lines without modification, replacing manual palletizing operations in minutes.

Universal Robots’ UR10 cobot has been integrated with the ZFP, combining the full functionality of the robot with a vertical 7th axis swing system with the ability to stack on each side, supporting North American pallet sizing.